It's very simple. If you are a publisher, you need to connect your ad serving software to an SSP ( supply side platform). Look at Pubmatic, adify, or Rubicon. All three have softwear and ad yield management tools to help you connect to that revenue stream.

If you are already with an SSP then you want to develop your relationship with them further, as they are truly the only people you can take advice from, while this industry remains in this state of flux. Most demand side partners will negotiate terms related to transparency through the tech layer, be it the SSP, DSP or network. Same with programmatic direct.

As for buzzwords, I would prefer the term nomenclature, which is only natural in an industry which has become so fragmented over such a short period of time. Embrace it.

In the age when anyone can become a publisher, you as a "premium" publisher will have to create your own "premium" advertising products, and/or tactics.

Do you sell your audience with any parameters other than extending reach? I think that this product needs to be upsold properly. Besides for contextual relevance, there are a lot of other parameters for you to offer advertisers, particularly from third party data sets.

Since display doesn't have any one media owner as big as search does, I think that the fragmentation is quite natural, though I am unsure as to the pace of development. The current fast pace is fueled by VC backed data and analytics startups. There will definitely be consolidation in this space.

I work for an agency that bought a DSP. It's really is not that complex. Clients like Home Depot want to buy within a fixed site list. That white list might have a 1000 to 2000 sites listed. The client will comb through the list and cross off sites they don't want. The Tradedesk will then work to buy inventory that will allow it to make a margin. Other clients may allow for wider areaway sites. There are a lot of groups out there that are defrauding clients and pubs.